Friday, July 15, 2016

Gluten-Free, Oil-Free, Egg-Free, Dairy-Free, Vegan, Pumpkin Muffins

For years, I had a bit of a pumpkin muffin reputation. Once autumn rolled around, I would get multiple requests for The pumpkin muffin recipe.

You can still find that on this blog. Worry not, old friends.

But over the years, we've cut out a few things from our lives, namely dairy, soy, eggs, and gluten. We also avoid refined oils now. (Besides, most vegetable oil is loaded in GMOs.)

But enough about me - let's talk MUFFINS!

I knew that there had to be a way to replace the egg and oil. I tried applesauce, which is okay - but it gives baked goods that spongey texture that kind of bounces back and is hard to bite through. (I have kids with sensory issues here, bear with me.)

I tried a combination of nut butter and applesauce and it was okay - but still had a lot of fat.

I tried ground flax slurries in place of the egg and what a disaster! It was like biting into a glue ball. Yuck. Definitely did NOT do The pumpkin muffin recipe justice.

And then I started working in the kitchen again with something new: So Delicious greek style yogurt.

The heavens parted and a choir of angels sang (that's for you, Dannielle).

I had tried it in cupcakes recently, for which it worked, and in a gooey butter cake (St. Louisans) and it flopped.

But, I had to try it again. Guess what? SUCCESS.

I'm finally proud enough of this one that I think it takes the place of The recipe.